Lunch Time Analysis - Hockey Style

I did a little lunch time analysis…since the whining was getting to be too much.

Let’s compare 2 players. Player 1 is loved and adored. Player 2 is not.

Player 1:
· Stands 5’11
· One of only a few players to win a Stanley Cup and Olympic Gold medal in the same year
· Named captain of his hockey team at the age of 21, youngest in NHL history
· Youngest player in an all-star game at age 18
· Finished 2nd in Rookie of the year voting
· In his first 4 years he scored 89, 89, 42 (injury) and 90 points
· His 5th year was his break out year in terms of points, reaching 50 goals for the first time
· Arguably one of the top 3 players in the NHL at the peak of his career
· Compared with Lemieux and Gretzky
· Impressed by work ethic, skills of player #2
· Won a Lester Pearson award…best player voted by his peers.

Player 2:
· Stands 5’11
· One of only a few players to win a Stanley Cup and Olympic Gold medal in the same year
· Named captain of his hockey team at the age of 19, youngest in NHL history
· Finished 2nd in Rookie of the year voting
· Youngest player to score 100 points in single season
· In his first 4 years he scored 102, 120, 72 (injury) and 103 points
· His 5th year was his break out year in terms of points, on pace for 50 goals for the first time.
· Arguably one of the top 3 players in the NHL at this point in his career
· Compared with Lemieux and Gretzky
· Idolized player #1 when growing up
· Won a Lester Pearson award…best player voted by his peers.

Player #1 = Steve Yzerman, loved and adored
Player #2 = Sidney Crosby, hated and loathed

Yet, they are nearly identical players.

Detroit fans laugh when Crosby is called the best player in the NHL. Though he may not be THE best, he is clearly one of the top players. Recall the days of Yzerman in this town, and you will remember the pining we did for Stevie to be called the best player in the league. We’d say “He’s more complete….He plays defense….Mario and Gretzky have better players around them.”

So now we say a guy who has identical…better stats…. than our beloved Stevie is not that great at all. We say Ovechkin is the best and he may be. But last I checked, he’s never won a Stanley Cup or Gold Medal. In fact, he’s never scored as many points as Crosby in a season, as his highest point total is 112 points. Although, he has scored more goals, and has won multiple Pearson and Hart trophies.

Truth be told, it’s a very subjective argument. But I tend to thing locally it’s subject to the insecurity or inferiority complex of the Detroit sports fan. Detroit fans don’t take losing well and we discredit the other team various ways.

1. By whining about unfair officiating or preferential treatment
2. We blame injuries
3. We say the other team isn’t that good and we played bad

We pine to have superstars here, but when they don’t come we say we didn’t need them anyhow. We’ve booed Jordan and Lebron. Yet they were or are clearly the best players in their leagues at their times. We’ve run stars like Grant Hill out of town because they weren’t “tough” enough. We whine when superstars don’t come to Detroit as a free agent. When we lose to them, it’s because we don’t have superstars. When we beat them it’s because they really aren’t superstars. We’ve often made it clear in this town that we don’t like superstars, and with that we underrate how good superstars actually are. We take pride in tough, gritty players, and from what I can read Crosby is that, but with a lot of skill too.

So why is Crosby overrated in our minds? Look at the stats. Look at the accomplishments. Line by line they are the same or better than “The Captain’s”. I think I could also argue that scoring is tougher these days than in the glory days of numbers 99, 66 and 19. So doesn’t that make Crosby’s numbers better? I tend to think that if we had Crosby in Detroit we’d love him. We’d argue that he is one of the best and that Ovechkin isn’t because of Ovechkin hasn’t won anything yet. That’s what we said about Jordan until he won 6 titles. That’s what we said about Lebron till the Cavs rolled through Detroit time and again.

I cheer as much as the next person when my team beats a star studded roster. But you have to give credit where credit is due. Some players are stars, plain and simple. Hate him because he’s a Penguin, but simply saying he’s overrated because we don’t like them, or we don’t have them is ridiculous.